A law should be enacted by the Central Government to provide right to electricity to every individual, said Vidyut Upavokta Mahasangh Odisha president and former State Finance Minister Panchanan Kanungo here on Wednesday.
Addressing a national seminar on ‘Electricity Distribution: Is Privatisation the Panacea’ organised by the All India Power Engineers’ Federation (AIPEF) and the All Odisha Power Engineers’ Federation, Kanungo said that to curb the theft in the energy sector and maintaining quality and frequent supply, there is a need of conducting CAG audit and energy audit as well as supply and financial audits to nab the culprits.
He also mentioned that earlier electricity consumption in Odisha was 2,000 MW, of which 60 per cent was produced from hydroelectricity. But now the consumption has come up from 34 lakh households to 78 lakh households and of the consumption only 18 to 19 per cent is produced from hydroelectricity, which is a matter of concern, he added.
Kanungo demanded that all systems of electricity franchises including production and distribution be under the Government service sector. The service sector for distribution system should be under one hand, i.e, the franchisees should be given to panchayats or municipalities.
AIPEF chairman Sailendra Dubey opposed the re-privatisation move of power distribution in Odisha and said the federation has decided to resort to agitation and to actively support power engineers and employees in their movement against privatisation of power distribution.
He also said the power engineers from all other States would extend full support to Odisha Power Engineers agitation of State-wise relay dharana at Bhubaneswar.
He also demanded that the State Government stop the re-privatisation of the distribution sector and urged to review the reforms and privatisation done so far by an expert committee before taking any step.
MP Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, former Cesu CEO Sudarshan Nayak, AIPEF secretary general Ratnakar Rao, All India Federation of Electricity Employees secretary general Mohan Sharma, AOPEF chairman Biswaranjan Mishra and secretary general Brhmaprakash Paital also spoke on the occasion.